At Bethany Beach for the Fourth of July

As is our tradition, we went to Bethany Beach for the Fourth of July Parade.

Each year, we join my parents and elements of the Mahaffie clan along the Parade route where I love to greet statewide and local politicians. This year we had a good selection, including Senator Tom Carper and Governor Ruth Ann Minner.

Many of the parade entrants were handing out American flags. Very patriotic. It was not one of the politicians that was distributing plastic US flags clearly marked as "Made in China." My sister-in-law Karen pointed this out to me, after the folks handing these out had passed.

After the parade, we spent the afternoon on the beach. It was such a hot day, the cold Atlantic water felt very good. We floated, and sat, and made sand castles, until almost 5. It's remarkable how burned you can get.

In the evening, we sat around my folks' house, drinking beer, chatting, snacking, and enjoying family and friends. We ate burgers and dogs, with pasta salad and macaroni and cheese, and veggies and hummus.

And there was dessert, while we waited for the sun to set and the Bethany fireworks to start. Unfortunately, a large thunderstorm rolled in and put paid to the fireworks show. So we sat and watched lightning from the living room.

It was a long, hot, tiring, but fun day. So much fun, in fact, that I found myself wide awake in the small hours of this morning, suffering from a righteous indigestion brought on by all that holiday enjoyment.

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